FORGOTTEN FATHERS

For these impoverished fathers, the "end of men" is often not simply a question for purposes of discussion but a fact that is all too real.2 In the instances in which poor fathers are not forgotten, they are targeted as causes of poverty rather than as possible victims themselves - or more accurately they fall somewhere along the false dichotomy between pure blame and pure sympathy.3 The poor fathers are lumped together in monolithic descriptions that become constants in equations attempting to understand and solve societal ills.4 If a continuously evolving factor is treated as a known constant rather than an undetermined variable, the math will inevitably be wrong. Rather, the discussion for impoverished fathers should be directed toward whether there is an opportunity to turn back from their gradual acquiescence to failure, and whether at-risk boys can veer away from a seemingly pre- determined path. [...]the monolithic treatment of poor fathers is corrected in the many systems that the fathers encounter, the fathers' jaded view that the whole world is against them will continue to be disturbingly correct.